Another One Bites The Dust

We lost our beloved Nemo today.  He has been a member of our family for over 4 years.  We got him when we lived in our apartment shortly after we got married.  He has been quite the trooper and has outlasted most of our other fish.  It's interesting because believe it or not, he had a personality.  I never thought fish had personalities but actually most of our fish through the last few years have had one.  Little Nemo was a very submissive fish.  If he got picked on by another fish he would just take it.  He was pretty easygoing and it didn't seem to bother him if he got kicked out of his little home by another more aggressive fish.  And he had an appetite.  He would just eat until he couldn't fit any more in his mouth (actually I have a suspicion he starved to death.  We haven't been so good at feeding the fish lately...).  He has been through a lot, poor little guy, but he has been resilient to the very end.  When we got him he was sick and I fully expected him to die a few days later.  But he came out of it and went on to live another 4 years.  He even jumped out of the tank once and survived the fall and everything.  So here's to you little Nemo.  You will be missed.

Something Sweet

Yesterday it was the cutest thing- Adam actually asked to hold Emma (normally he doesn't want to be THAT close to her) and after pointing to her nose, eyes, ears and head he put his forehead against hers and said, "I love you."  Awe!  It almost made me get teary eyed.  I wish I could have gotten a picture or gotten it on camera but I didn't.  I just hope the picture in my head never fades because it was priceless.  I guess this picture from a few weeks ago will have to do for blog purposes. It comes close to the real thing.

Baby Emma

I need to do some catching up.  Here's what I'll do: I'll tell the short story, and then insert the longer parts later as I have time to do so.

So the last half of my pregnancy was just as rough (ok, maybe slightly less as bad) as the first half but for different reasons.  I found out that I had an iron deficiency which required taking an iron supplement but it took a really long time to feel "normal" again.  I actually never really felt "normal."  I was always just so exhausted all the time, like all the energy I had was being sucked out of me.  I felt like the baby was taking all my nutrients.

...Fast forward to last Sunday...

I was scheduled to be induced Sunday morning.  I had mixed feelings about it, mostly because it was unknown to me and I was just nervous.  Been reading too many horror stories I guess.  Plus, I wanted to go all natural.  I guess that's just the independent person in me.  I wanted to do it all by myself.  However, I also didn't want to be pregnant any longer than I had do be and I was worried that the baby was getting bigger and bigger and I didn't want to have a 9 lb baby.  I had a feeling she might be bigger than Adam because my pregnancy weight gain had been pretty much the same for both pregnancies but this time, I think I was a pound heavier at my last appointment than I had been the same time with Adam.  So I figured I either gained a pound (probably from the box of doughnuts Brent bought) or she did, or maybe we shared the extra poundage.  Anyway, I didn't want a big baby and I also had a pinched nerve that was bothering me really bad, plus all the other uncomfortable perks of being pregnant, so I figured it wouldn't hurt too much to be induced.  At my last appointment, I discussed the options with my doctor and she told me it would probably be pretty easy since I was already so far along (2cm, 80% effaced) which made me feel a little better.  I had been having contractions for a few days prior to Sunday but they were irregular and not very strong.  I was hoping the baby would come before the induction date but that didn't happen, no matter how much I did or walked around. (Insert story about trip to hospital on Friday)

So in we went Sunday morning and they got me all hooked up to the IV and 3 1/2 hours later she was born. (fill in details later)  Check out her little triangle nose!  That was the first thing I noticed about her.  It kind of bothered me, but now I love it!  It's what makes her special and unique.

Emma Jean

Born 9/2/2012 at 11:52 am

8lbs 6.3oz, 18.5 in long*

* We think the length isn't quite accurate because when I took her to her appointment a few days later they measured her at 20.5 in.  They double checked it too.

(Add some post delivery details here.)  Shortly after she was born, my mom was able to come and bring Adam so he could see his new baby sister before they went to church.

I think he likes her!  He learned her name very quickly.  When he hears her crying, he says, "Emma!  Emma!" and runs to see if she's ok.  He likes to sit next to her when she's laying on the couch and he likes to point out all her features, such as her nose, eyes, head and chin.  She's been poked in the eye a few times but I'm sure there's more to come so I guess she should get used to it.

We are so happy to have her finally here.  She is such a precious little baby.

Pictures

I haven't been very good at taking pictures of Adam recently because I haven't felt very well and it's not on the top of my priority list.  But I've been feeling a little better so I charged up the camera and have taken a few over the last month or two.  Our little baby is turning into a little boy.  This one is a few months old but I had to include it.  This is the face only a mother could love.  That's dirt in his boogers.

Little boys are so dirty.
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Brent's Mom is awesome.  She spoils Adam with clothes.  Adam got a whole summer wardrobe from her and the timing couldn't have been more perfect.  I hadn't felt well enough to go shopping for him and he needed new clothes badly.  It was a huge blessing for our family.  All the outfits have some sort of vehicle on them.  He LOVES trucks and cars.  The bigger the better.  He thought that the "Ga Ga" (dump truck) on his shirt was so awesome.  Here he is modeling his new outfit.

He even has a toy dump truck to match.

These pictures turned out so cute.  He's reaching for the camera.  He wants to see the babies in the camera but he doesn't realize that we have to take pictures of the baby first.

He's becoming quite a little ham too.  Lately when I go to take his picture or take video of him, he really hams it up.  We got a new dining room table recently.  Adam wanted to test it out.

Anyway, even though he's growing up, he's still a little cutie.  We love him so much.

Boys Like Dirt

     We planted a garden about a month ago.  The plants are pretty big, but our produce isn't.  So i don't know if we just got the pygmy version of zucchini, yellow squash and roma tomatoes, but I expected them to get bigger than they have been getting.  The only thing that seems the right size are our cherry tomatoes, but none of them are ripe yet.  And our yellow squash has this brown stuff on the ends, like it's dying and withering up there.  But they are only about 3-4 inches long and 1 inch in diameter so I don't know if they are ripe or not.  The ones that we had growing up always seemed bigger.  Anyway, we have some corn in the works and some watermelon but those haven't produced anything yet.

     When Brent was getting the soil ready, Adam wanted to help but Brent was working in manure and I didn't want Adam playing in it too, so I made him play in a different pile of dirt.  He seemed to be ok with it. 

Brent seemed to enjoy the dirt as much as Adam.

So far we have harvested two roma tomatoes about the size of golf balls.  Maybe we planted them too close to the cherry tomatoes and they got confused.  I hope we at least get something good.  It is quite expensive to water every day so we need some good produce to make it worth it.

Oh Boy!

We had a sonogram about a month ago to determine the gender of our baby.  It was pretty in depth but one thing they couldn't get a good look at was just that.  The technician got a split second view in which she snapped a picture of what looked convincingly like a boy.  However, she couldn't get another good look to confirm it.  So, here are the pictures we got of our most likely little boy!

So they set up a follow up appointment for four weeks later to double check the gender and to double check a few other things they couldn't get.  However, we felt confident that we were having a boy.  I was really happy because that meant we wouldn't have to buy anything because we already have boy stuff.  We even kind of talked about names but I never really felt pressure because we still had time and I figured we would come up with something eventually.  This time around, I definitely am not stressed about being prepared for the baby's arrival.  I am already pretty prepared.  Whew!  Now I can just sit back and try to enjoy the rest of the summer.  

..........Fast forward four weeks..........

We had our follow up sonogram on Monday.  

Everything looked good except for one thing.

Surprise!

What looked convincingly like a boy four weeks ago now looks 

convincingly like a girl.  

We had a different technician this time and she seemed more convinced that it was a girl than the last one about the boy, so I think we are more safe saying we are having a girl, but I want another conformation before I go out and start buying anything girly!

Anyway, we are happy with whatever we are having.  Though secretly, deep down, I really wanted a boy.   I really felt it was important that Adam have a little brother to play with.  And we will have to get creative with our living space to accommodate a whole set of girl clothes and stuff.  I wanted the next one to be a boy so bad!  But that doesn't mean we will love a little girl any less.  It will just take some time to re adjust my mindset.  And it doesn't mean that she and Adam won't be best buds either.  Brent and Janny were close growing up.  So were Shaylin and Loren.  But I just remember how much fun me and Janelle had playing together growing up and I want the same for my kids.

One thing that we have noticed though, is maybe that was why we couldn't really come up with any boy names, and maybe that was why I didn't feel like I needed to worry about it.  Also, I have had more problems with this pregnancy, so maybe it really does hold true that you are more sick if you are having a girl.  Either way, as long as we have a healthy little baby, that's all that matters.

Easter

I know it's almost a month late but we have just been so busy!  I thought that things would slow down after Shaylin's wedding but I guess not.  Anyway, I just wanted to post some pictures from Easter.  Little Adam didn't really get the point of looking for Easter eggs, even after we showed him that there were snacks in them.  Oh well, maybe next year.

Some of the eggs had trucks in them.  He liked those ones the best.

We also had a egg hunt with his cousin, (Pictures to be inserted HERE if I can remember to get them) and I thought maybe he would have gotten the hang of it but he just wanted to play in the dirt.  I guess he's a typical boy!  But I think next year will be different.